Joe Birmingham played more major league games than any other player out of Cornell University.

An outfielder, his entire career was spent with Cleveland. They were then known as the Cleveland Naps after Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie, who played infield on the team and also managed the team some years. Joe played in the outfield along with Hall of FamerElmer Flick and also with "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.

Joe had good range factors, but he wasn't a very strong hitter. His best years were 1909, when he hit .289 (which was good enough for 10th in the league in batting average that year), and 1911, when he hit .304.